A recently completed Erasmus+ project “Romani Studies at Universities in Europe: Development and Innovations” (RomStudUni) offers a variety of novel resources on Romani studies for universities. The project’s closing event was held on December 7, 2021, in Stockholm, Sweden.
The project, led by Södertörn University, was a three-year long collaboration among four institutions: CEU’s Romani Studies Program, Charles University, University of Helsinki, and Södertörn University. The long-term goals of the project were to promote the visibility of Romani Studies in higher education, increase the societal impact and influence of Romani Studies, strengthen collaboration across institutions, and train Romani Studies graduates to bring their own contributions to the field of Romani Studies.
RomStudUni has a website that provides open access to some of the materials that were developed throughout the three-year-period. A teaching manual with 10 lesson plans and course material - basic vocabulary and key grammar of North Central Romani, Lovari, and Kelderash Romani dialects - and a pilot lesson of the Approaches to Romani Studies course consisting of 12 lessons are among the materials that are already available for students and teachers. Other final products such as a textbook of Romani Studies will also be published on the website.
From the Romani Studies Program at CEU, Melinda Vajda, Angela Kocze, and Marton Rovid contributed to the project.
One of the strengths of this collaboration was the expertise with various perspectives that each partner brought to the table. We hope that our work sparks further research ideas and may inspire others to produce open access resources in the field of Romani Studies - said Marton Rovid.
Melinda Vajda, Romani language instructor, is most excited about how the language learning resources inspired by real-life examples might bring various generations and communities closer to each other and how the process of learning might support young Roma individuals in exploring their heritage and strengthening their identities.
More information on the RomStudUni and project updates can be found on the project’s website.
Are you an OSUN/CEU student and you are interested in learning Romani language from our RSP language instructor? Visit our course: https://courses.ceu.edu/courses/2021-2022/romani-language